Shirley Temple: Actress, Ambassador, Honorary African Chief - The Atlantic The Atlantic Shirley Temple: Actress, Ambassador, Honorary African Chief The late child star represented America as nationalism swept Africa and the Iron Curtain fell. Shirley Temple Black arrives at the White House in 1998. Reuters Most Popular Print Text Size Many of us are familiar with the story of Shirley Temple, the child star . But how many of us know the story of Shirley Temple Black, the U.S. diplomat tasked with tracking down an elephant missing from the president's guest house? In October 1976, Black, who died on Monday at age 85, found herself in this very position. The iconic Depression-era actress had gotten involved in Republican politics after leaving show business, running unsuccessfully for Congress in California, acting as a UN delegate under Richard Nixon, and serving as the ambassador to Ghana under Gerald Ford.

She had since become America's first female chief of protocol, and had the unenviable task of informing Ron Nessen, Ford's press secretary, that editors with the news agency UPI had wrecked the Blair House across from the White House during a party: I wish to report that it was a most unfortunate and unhappy night for the President's Guest House. Instead of 175 guests, there were 269. (They roamed all over the house with drinks, flopped on beds, many of the women took off their shoes and wandered around the halls.) I'm told that the catered food was terrible. The saddest matter of all is the loss of a small carved ivory elephant. It was a piece left by the Blairs at the house and valued at about $125. Ron we have had visitors stay there from all over the world and this is the first object from Blair House in its entire history to have been stolen. Nessen got the message. "As for the missing elephant, this just simply astounds me," he confessed. It was one of the more absurd moments in Black's second, lesser-known career as an American stateswoman.

"I have had a longer career in diplomacy than in my entertainment career," Black noted in 1999, during a NASA-hosted online question-and-answer session (a kind of proto-Reddit AMA). She became interested in international affairs as a kid, she explained, when her teacher kept track of the foreigners coming by her studio and assigned her material on the visitors. ''Shirley Temple opens doors for Shirley Temple Black,'' she admitted. Black's diplomatic career really got off the ground in 1974, when President Ford dispatched her to Accra as America's ambassador to Ghana ("Africa has the raw materials and this is the time when we should try to keep countries from nationalizing," she advised Ford in an Oval Office meeting before her departure). Her early government appointments were controversial, with critics accusing the White House of awarding plum jobs to a valued GOP fundraiser with little diplomatic experience ( sound familiar? ). Even Henry Kissinger, her colleague, initially doubted her qualifications. The secretary of state once heard her discussing Namibia at a party and was "surprised that I even knew the word," according to Black's telling . "Dr. Kissinger was a former child. Jerry Ford was a former child. Even F.D.R.

was a former child. I retired from the movies in 1949, and I'm still a former child," she remarked pointedly in 1975. Kissinger, for what it's worth, eventually came around, calling her "very intelligent, very tough-minded, very disciplined." Here's how the Palm Beach Daily News described Black's time in Ghana. You'll want to keep in mind that the article was written in 1976: [Ghanaians] beat their drums for the woman named Black, who wasn't black, but fell exuberantly into the the black African lifestyle. The ambassador ... wore African clothes, danced the country's torrid dances and let it be known that the working women were her 'sisters.' In Ghana, she was named an honorary African chief, as she proudly told the president during her swearing-in as chief of protocol. Fifteen years later, George H.W. Bush appointed Black ambassador to Czechoslovakia during one of the most momentous moments in the Cold War —just as communism was collapsing in Eastern Europe.

She had been in Prague during another pivotal period in 1968, as a representative of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, when Soviet tanks barreled into the city to crush the Prague Spring reform movement (''Nothing," she mused, "crushes freedom as substantially as a tank''). Even though the Czech president in power when she arrived was no reformer, Black told The New York Times that they had bonded over her films (he knew her as "Shirleyka"). ''Shirley Temple opens doors for Shirley Temple Black,'' she admitted. "The greatest challenge in the political arena is to maintain a sense of humor," she later reflected . "Diplomacy is the art of persuasion." As for those postings in Accra and Prague? They "were the best jobs of my whole life," she said. Shirley Temple Blog Shirley Temple Shirley Temple, later known as Shirley Temple Black, is considered by many to be the most famous child actor in history. Her career began at the age of three. She starred in more than 40 movies during the 1930s. Her films continue to be popular, particularly among young girls. She became a diplomat later in life.

Shirley Jane Temple was born on April 23, 1928, in Santa Monica, California. Her father was George Francis Temple, a banker, and her mother was Gertrude Amelia Krieger, a housewife. Shirley had two brothers. Shirley's acting career began when she was observed at her dance class by two directors. Her first job was in "Baby Burlesks," parodies of famous films of the day, but with all-children casts. After appearing in ï¿½Stand Up and Cheer," Shirley was signed to Fox Film Corporation in 1933. She stayed with Fox until 1940, becoming the studio's most lucrative actor. For four years straight, she ranked as the top-grossing box-office star in America. Shirley was known for her dancing skills as well as acting. In 1934 the song ï¿½On the Good Ship Lollipop" was made famous by Shirley in the movie ï¿½Bright Eyes." She also had another big hit with ï¿½Animal Crackers in my Soup" in the film ï¿½Curley Top" (1935).

She even lent her talents to help such worthy causes as the Red Cross . Temple married actor John Agar in 1945, when she was 17, and they had one daughter, Linda Susan. Shirley was married to John for four years before they divorced. She then met the love of her life in Charles Black. They were married in 1950 and produced two children, Charlie Jr. and Lori. Shirley and Charles remained married until his death in 2005. Shirley Temple Black became involved in Republican Party politics, unsuccessfully entering a congressional race in 1967 on a pro-war platform. She held several diplomatic posts and served as America's delegate to numerous international conferences and summits. She was appointed American ambassador to Ghana (1974-76). She became the first female chief of protocol of the United States in 1976, which put her in charge of all State Department ceremonies, visits, gifts to foreign leaders and coordination of protocol issues with all U.S. embassies and consulates. In 1989, Black was ambassador to Czechoslovakia and witnessed the Velvet Revolution.

She later commented, "That was the best job I ever had." The year 1998 was big for Shirley Temple Black. She appeared on the cover of "People" magazine twice that year. The first instance was with the title "Picture Perfect," and the second was part of the magazine's special report, "Surviving Breast Cancer." She appeared at the 1998 Academy Awards and also received Kennedy Center honors. Black received honorary doctorates from Santa Clara University and Lehigh University, a fellowship from the College of Notre Dame, and a Chubb Fellowship from Yale University . The Screen Actors Guild announced in September 2005 that Shirley Temple Black, "...who captivated the world as no other child star has done before or since, then served her country as an eminent diplomat over more than three decades," would receive the guildï¿½s most prestigious honor: the Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Shirley Temple Black was a consultant on the ABC Television Network production of "Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story," based on Part One of her autobiography. She now resides in Woodside, California .

Former Ghana Ambassador Shirley Temple Black Dead at 85 | AFKInsider Former Ghana Ambassador Shirley Temple Black Dead at 85 By Dana Sanchez Published: February 11, 2014, 10:57 am Print Shirley Temple Black, U.S. ambassador to Ghana, watches a tribal dance in Ghana, in 1975. Photo: AP Shirley Temple Black, the dimpled child star of the Great Depression era who later became a U.S. ambassador to Ghana, died late Monday at age 85 in her California home, Reuters reports. As an actress, Temple was precocious, tap-dancing to songs like “On The Good Ship Lollipop” and bouncing her way into audiences hearts. Temple ranks 18th on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest female American screen legends of all time, according to Wikipedia . Her child movie career ended when she was 12, and though she continued to act, she retired from the screen in 1949 at age 21. “I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six,” Temple recalled, according to TheGuardian .

“Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked me for my autograph.” As Ghana Ambassador Shirley Temple Black, she was soft spoken and earnest, determined to disprove concerns that her child star career made her a diplomatic lightweight, Reuters reports. Temple Black admits the public found it hard to accept her in diplomatic roles. However her 20 years in public service exceeded the 19 she spent in Hollywood. In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed Temple Black ambassador to Ghana. She served until 1976. Two years later he made her chief of protocol. For the next decade she trained newly appointed ambassadors at the request of the State Department. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush made Black ambassador to Prague — a sensitive Eastern European post normally reserved for career diplomats. Temple got her first ambassador appointment (to Ghana) after Secretary of State Henry Kissinger heard her talk about Namibia at a party and, in her words, was “surprised that I even knew the word,” 680News reports. She had to prove herself repeatedly at a time when few women got such posts, let along pretty former actresses.

But she earned the respect of colleagues and world leaders, according to 680News . Temple Black ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for Congress in 1967 in support of the Vietnam War, and served in Richard Nixon’s administration as a member of the delegation to the U.N. General Assembly. During the Ronald Reagan presidency — she also co-starred with him — she served as a State Department trainer. In the first Bush administration, she was ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the historic days when the Iron Curtain fell. “After I heard her speak, I realized that Shirley Temple has not rested on her laurels as a child movie star,” Saudi Arabian Ambassador Jamil Baroody said in 1969, according to 680News . “She has emerged as a sincere activist and an exponent of youth and its aspirations.” Temple Black had to defend her appointment as ambassador to Ghana after it was announced in 1974. “There are many of us who should be in a position to bring peace to the world. … Most of the people in Ghana wouldn’t know me as an actress. They’d know me for my work at the U.N.,” she said.

In 1975, Ghana’s new ambassador showed up for work in a Ghanaian outfit — printed cotton head scarf and gown — and startled embassy pros by discussing the economy in great detail, the Associated Press reported from Accra, 680News reports. “The poise, charm and hard work that made her one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood in her childhood has won Uncle Sam unexpected box office appeal in West Africa,” the AP reported at the time. Four days after Temple arrived in Ghana, she presented her credentials to the Ghanaian head of state, Colonel Ignatius Acheampong. She described the experience as “probably the most thrilling moment of my life,”according to ShirleyTempleFans . “Standing alone in a little canopied setting with the Ghanaian Air Force band playing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ was almost too much. I was covered in gooseflesh. Then the talking drums of welcome really covered me with gooseflesh: the talking drums go all the way to the pit of your stomach.” During her Ghana ambassadorship, “there are no major problems in U.S.-Ghana relations and the feelings are good,” she said.

However, she was concerned with problems in Ghana including the country’s unsuccessful quest for its own oil in view of world oil prices, worldwide inflation, and debts left over from the regime of Kwame Nkrumah. It was hoped that the government’s Operation Feed Yourself program would reduce the country’s dependence on imports, Temple said. Temple was especially interested in providing anti-measles vaccines and other health aids to Ghanaians. “My job is to stimulate American action here, and to look after the interest of my country in trade and diplomacy in Ghana. I’d like to see more done in terms of health assistance, particularly maternal child care, and in trying to encourage U.S. business interests to get involved,” she said, according to ShirleyTempleFans . Temple described a grueling work day in her job as Ghana Ambassador. “I work a 17 hour day, and I’m personally responsible for 108 staff members in the embassy,” she said. “If anything goes wrong, I’m to blame. And if there are sudden developments, I’d have to make split-second decisions and they’d have to be the right ones. “It’s a tremendous work load but I have no regrets. I’ve not been bored for an instant.

My biggest problem is that I rise at 6 a.m. and work steadily all day. “At night there is almost always an official function that I must attend. And in Ghana everyone eats late; dinner seldom starts before 9 p.m. I get very little sleep, but I still feel so robust I sometimes wear everybody else out.” During Temple’s ambassadorship to Ghana, the government of Ghana was stable, and the country’s relationship with the U.S. was secure, according to ShirleyTempleFans . Sign up for the AFKInsider newsletter — the most compelling business news you need to know from Africa and the African diaspora, delivered straight to your inbox. Shirley Temple Black: How good as a US diplomat? - CSMonitor.com Shirley Temple Black: How good as a US diplomat? Latest News Shirley Temple Black had a full career as a US diplomat after her Hollywood childhood. She was Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, as well as Chief Protocol officer under Gerald Ford.

By Poly Anderson, Associated Press February 11, 2014 View Caption of New York — Shirley Temple got her first ambassador appointment after Secretary of State Henry Kissinger heard her discussing Namibia at a party and, in her words, was "surprised that I even knew the word." She would have to prove herself over and over during a time when few women got such posts, let along pretty former actresses. But she earned the respect of colleagues and world leaders. A Republican (she ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1967), she served in Richard Nixon's administration as a member of the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. She later served President Gerald Ford as ambassador to Ghana , then as his chief of protocol in 1976 and 1977. Photos of the Day Photops of the weekend "She is like a fresh breeze that has gently blown into our midst," Saudi Arabian Ambassador Jamil Baroody said in 1969. "After I heard her speak, I realized that Shirley Temple has not rested on her laurels as a child movie star.

She has emerged as a sincere activist and an exponent of youth and its aspirations." She had to defend her appointment as ambassador to Ghana after it was announced in 1974. "There are many of us who should be in a position to bring peace to the world. ... Most of the people in Ghana wouldn't know me as an actress. They'd know me for my work at the U.N. ," she said. The Associated Press reported from Accra, Ghana, in 1975 that the new ambassador discussed the economy in great detail and "startled the embassy pros" by turning up at her desk in a Ghanaian outfit of printed cotton head scarf and gown. Temple also made a point of saying "welcome" and "thank you" in local languages and "delighted the ladies of the Market Women's Association ... embracing them as sister working girls." She said she got the posting after Secretary of State Henry Kissinger heard her discussing Namibia at a party and was "surprised that I even knew the word." "The pose, charm and hard work that made her one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood in her childhood has won Uncle Sam unexpected box office appeal in West Africa ," the AP reported at the time.

Returning to Washington in 1976, she was appointed by Ford as U.S. chief of protocol, a job that she described as "a lot of parties for one who doesn't like parties." In 1989, after Bush took office, Temple was sent to Czechoslovakia as ambassador. A few months after she arrived in Prague, communist rule was overthrown there and across Eastern Europe. "My main job (initially) was human rights, trying to keep people like future President Vaclav Havel out of jail," she said in a 1999 Associated Press interview. "Almost overnight, my concern became economics," she said. She accompanied Havel, the former dissident playwright, when he came to Washington as his country's new president in early 1990. She considered her background in entertainment an asset to her political career. "Politicians are actors too, don't you think?" she once said. "Usually if you like people and you're outgoing, not a shy little thing, you can do pretty well in politics." Her work in the Reagan administration had been more low-key. She conducted State Department seminars for ambassadors and their wives.

(She and Reagan had acted on screen together in "That Hagen Girl" in 1947.) Temple said her interest in international work came after her brother George was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1952. She became active in the local and national MS societies and eventually helped found an international federation of MS groups. She said her United Nations service in the late 1960s made her more aware of the needs of the Third World. "I felt right away that the superpowers always seemed to like talking to each other, and there weren't enough countries talking to the developing countries," she told the AP in 1975. The Clinton years ended her diplomatic career, though she remained active in groups such as the American Academy of Diplomacy, of which she was a charter member. In the 1975 interview, she bristled (but with a laugh) at the label "former child star." "Dr. Kissinger was a former child. Jerry Ford was a former child. Even F.D.R. was a former child. I retired from the movies in 1949, and I'm still a former child." Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Next up Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Daily From Child Star to Diplomat: Remembering Shirley Temple Black - History in the Headlines From Child Star to Diplomat: Remembering Shirley Temple Black February 11, 2014 By Sarah Pruitt Share this: From Child Star to Diplomat: Remembering Shirley Temple Black Author From Child Star to Diplomat: Remembering Shirley Temple Black URL Google From 1935 to 1938, as weary Americans sought a temporary escape from the lingering hardships of the Great Depression, golden-haired, eternally optimistic Shirley Temple emerged as the nation’s top box office attraction, with Clark Gable running a distant second. Temple acted in some 44 movies as a child star, but her acting career fizzled when she reached adolescence. Then, in one of history’s more impressive reinventions, she emerged in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s as a top American diplomat, serving as a delegate to the United Nations and ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.

On February 10, Temple Black died at her home in Woodside, California, at the age of 85. Join us as we take a look back at her illustrious--and surprising--career in the public eye. Born in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928, Shirley Temple began her movie career at the tender age of four, when she was spotted by an agent and cast in a series of one-reel shorts called “Baby Burlesks.” Thanks to her natural charm and the persistence of her mother (who claimed her daughter was a year younger than her real age), Temple got her big break soon after that, when she won a starring role in the typical Depression-era fantasy “Stand Up and Cheer.” Signed to a contract with 20th-Century Fox at $150 per week, she became a bona fide star with the release of “Little Miss Marker,” one of eight films she made in 1934. Temple, who was loaned out to Paramount Pictures for the film, played a child whose father leaves her with a bookie (played by Adolphe Menjou) as a marker for his gambling debts.

In the type of wise, adorable role she would become famous for, she proceeds to reform the bookie’s gang of gamblers and other n’eer-do-wells with the power of her optimism, common sense, ability to overcome adversity and (of course) her perfect golden ringlets. A Shirley Temple movie invariably featured a catchy song (her most famous were “On the Good Ship Lollipop” and “Animal Crackers in My Soup”) and a tap-dance routine, including the ones she performed alongside the celebrated African-American entertainer Bill (“Bojangles”) Robinson in their four films together. Temple-themed merchandise flew off the shelves, including clothing, dish soap, cereal, playing cards and (of course) best-selling dolls, still coveted by collectors. Perhaps most famously, the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood created a sweet non-alcoholic beverage, colored with grenadine and topped with a maraschino cherry, and named it the “Shirley Temple.” By the time she was six years old, Temple had made no fewer than 20 movies. Her films took in $20 million in only a few years, and her popularity and marketability saved the struggling 20th-Century Fox from bankruptcy.

In 1938, her income was the seventh highest in the country, behind six industrialist titans. Temple made her last movie as a child star, “The Blue Bird,” in 1940; it was her 44th film. When it flopped, Fox dropped her contract, and Temple was able to enroll in school for the first time. She appeared in several more movies as an adolescent and young adult, including “Since You Went Away” (1944), “The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer” (1947) and “Fort Apache” (1948), but none met with the success of her former hits. By the age of 17, Temple had rebelled against the tight reins of her parents, marrying Jack Agar, a former U.S. Army Air Corps sergeant. They had a daughter, Susan, before divorcing in 1949. While on vacation in Hawaii, 21-year-old Temple met California businessman Charles Alden Black, who became her second husband in 1950. They would go on to have two children, Charles Jr.

and Lori, and spend the next 55 years together, until Black’s death in 2005. Through her marriage to Black, Temple (now known as Shirley Temple Black) became active in Republican politics. The couple campaigned on behalf of the Eisenhower/Nixon ticket in 1950s and lived in Washington, D.C. for a time. In 1967, Temple Black even ran for Congress herself, running on a platform of support for the Vietnam War; she lost to a more moderate Republican. Her illustrious diplomatic career began in 1969, when Richard Nixon named her as a delegate to the United Nations. In that post, she spoke effectively on environmental problems and the plight of refugees, among other issues. She battled breast cancer in 1972, speaking out about her mastectomy at a time when such surgeries were usually kept under wraps. In 1974, Gerald Ford named Temple Black as ambassador to Ghana, to the dismay of some career diplomats who considered her underqualified. She got positive reviews, however, from State Department officials, and served in that post until 1976. Ford later named Temple Black to another diplomatic post, the chief of protocol.

Temple Black returned to international diplomacy in 1989 when she became George H.W. Bush’s ambassador to Czechoslovakia. She served four years in that post, against the backdrop of Communism’s demise in Eastern Europe, and earned praise for her performance by no less an authority than Henry Kissinger, who called her “very intelligent, very tough-minded, very disciplined.” Throughout her adult life and career, Temple Black often underplayed her famous past, telling Time magazine in 1967 that “I always think of her as ‘the little girl.’ She’s not me.” Still, her early fame endured, kept alive by Shirley Temple fan clubs and collectors’ groups and makers of dolls and memorabilia. Tags Shirley Temple Black obituary | Film | The Guardian Shirley Temple Black obituary Cherubic child star of the 1930s who returned to public life as a US diplomat Shirley Temple Black as a child actor: 'I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six.

Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked me for my autograph.' Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Tuesday 11 February 2014 06.07 EST First published on Tuesday 11 February 2014 06.07 EST Share on Messenger Close From 1934 to 1938, when she was at the height of her fame, Shirley Temple (later known as Shirley Temple Black), who has died aged 85, appeared in films as a bright-eyed, curly-topped, dimpled cherub, whose chirpy singing and toddler's tap dancing were perfect antidotes to the depression. "During this depression, when the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time, it is a splendid thing that, for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles," Franklin D Roosevelt stated in 1935, referring to the world's biggest and littlest star. Temple's message was "be optimistic", the title of the song she sang in Little Miss Broadway (1938).

Her biggest hit songs were On the Good Ship Lollipop, from Bright Eyes (1934), which describes a child's dream of a candy shop, and Animal Crackers in My Soup, from Curly Top (1935), sung at an orphanage while skipping between tables at lunch as the kids beat time with their knives and forks. (She was adept at playing plucky orphans.) In Stowaway (1936), she displayed her considerable talents by impersonating Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson and Ginger Rogers (dancing with a Fred Astaire doll). She also demonstrated her dancing skills in numbers with the great tap-dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in four musicals. His deceptively easygoing tapping proved the ideal accompaniment to little Shirley's shuffle, as in the Polly Wolly Doodle stair routine in The Littlest Rebel (1935). No matter how one views Shirley Temple, and even for those who are allergic to precocious child performers, there has been no other child star before or since who has been as popular or demonstrated such extraordinary talents as singer, dancer and actor.

She was born in Santa Monica, California, to George Temple, a bank employee, and his wife, Gertrude (nee Krieger), who saw nascent talent in her three-year-old daughter. In 1931, Shirley was enrolled in a dance school in Los Angeles, where she was spotted by a studio agent. With her blonde hair styled in ringlets in imitation of the silent film star Mary Pickford, she was signed by Educational Pictures to appear in a series of one-reelers called Baby Burlesks, imitating films by Marlene Dietrich and other stars. Thanks to her ambitious mother, after bits in a few features Temple was offered a contract with 20th Century-Fox before she was six years old. She immediately made an impression, bordering on the freakish, singing Baby Take a Bow, in Stand Up and Cheer! (1934), among seven movies in which she appeared in the same year. After only her first year in movies, she received a Special Oscar "in grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934". She became a national institution: there were Shirley Temple dolls, toys and clothes (including a line in bathing suits).

"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six," she recalled. "Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked me for my autograph." Temple's first starring vehicle was Little Miss Marker (1934), based on a Damon Runyon short story. In the Runyon original, the tiny tot dances whenever she can, "holding her little short skirt up in her hands". In the film, Temple dances a lot, but keeps her skirt decorously in place. John Ford directed her in Wee Willie Winkie (1937), based on a Rudyard Kipling story, but changing the sex of the little hero to suit Temple. Graham Greene, infamously, reviewing Wee Willie Winkie in the London weekly Night and Day, wrote: "Infancy with her is a disguise, her appeal is more secret and more adult … her neat and well-developed rump twisted in the tap dance: her eyes had a sidelong searching coquetry … watch the way she measures a man with agile studio eyes, with dimpled depravity.

Adult emotions of love and grief glissade across the mask of childhood, a childhood that is only skin-deep … " Fox sued and the case was settled in Temple's favour with the judge (a fan) deeming the libel "a gross outrage". Greene fled to Mexico, and the magazine was fined £3,500. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in a British bank until she turned 21, when it was donated to charity. Temple continued to dispense sweetness and light in Heidi (1937), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) and The Little Princess (1939), her first film in Technicolor. Yet, already she was beginning to show her age and would soon be past her prime. Louis B Mayer wanted her to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but when Fox wouldn't release her, the producer Arthur Freed insisted they try the 16-year-old Judy Garland (six years older than Temple).

George Cukor, the second of four directors on the picture, got rid of the blonde wig and doll's makeup that Garland had been given, presumably to imitate Temple, and stressed the character's naturalness, a quality the younger star often lacked. The Blue Bird (1940) was Fox's answer to MGM's The Wizard of Oz, but the film was an expensive failure and marked the end of Temple's star power. Temple's parents bought up the remainder of her contract and sent her, at the age of 12, to Westlake school for girls, an exclusive country day school in Los Angeles. Contrary to the myth, Temple was not all washed up at 12, and made a fairly easy transition on screen from cute child to pretty teenager. David O Selznick put her under contract for two films in 1944, Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. In the former, the weepiest, longest and biggest hit about the home front during the second world war, Temple played Claudette Colbert's sassy daughter, and in the latter, another wartime romance, she was Ginger Rogers's chatterbox niece.

She is equally good as the teenager with the crush on Cary Grant in The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (aka Bachelor Knight, 1947) and worked for Ford again in Fort Apache (1948) as martinet lieutenant-colonel Henry Fonda's daughter, Philadelphia Thursday, probably the best film she made. Her young soldier suitor was played by a newcomer, John Agar , whom she had married three years previously. Shirley Temple Black, centre, as US ambassador to Ghana, watches a tribal dance performance at Cape Coast, Ghana, in 1975. Photograph: AP Their marriage ended in 1949, at the same time as she decided to retire from acting. The following year, she married the wealthy businessman Charles Black, who admitted to never having seen any of her films. After bringing up her three children, she returned to the public eye in politics as Shirley Temple Black.

A close friend of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan (with whom she co-starred in That Hagen Girl, 1947), she became active in the Republican party in California, where, in 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives, voicing her support for the Vietnam war. She became US ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) and White House chief of protocol (1976-77), during Gerald Ford 's presidency; foreign affairs officer with the state department under Reagan; and ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-92) under George HW Bush. In 1972, Temple Black was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. She decided to announce it to the media, becoming one of the first prominent women to speak openly about breast cancer, and encouraging other women who required the surgery to follow her example without fear. Her husband died in 2005. Temple Black is survived by their son, Charles, and daughter, Lori; and her daughter, Susan, from her marriage to Agar.

• Shirley Jane Temple Black, actor and politician, born 23 April 1928; died 10 February 2014 Whoopi Goldberg and Mia Farrow praise Temple, the former child star who left the entertainment industry for politics Published: 11 Feb 2014 Leave a tribute to the actor, singer, dancer and politician, who has died aged 85 Published: 11 Feb 2014 Her films enchanted strife-hit US audiences, and unlike so many child stars to come, she made a diplomatic transition to adulthood, writes Peter Bradshaw Published: 11 Feb 2014 The former child star proved a tireless advocate for aid in Africa among other achievements in an age of male-dominated diplomacy Published: 11 Feb 2014 Shirley Temple Black, child star who became diplomat, dies at 85 Shirley Temple Black, child star who became diplomat, dies at 85 Eric M. Johnson View photos By Eric M. Johnson (Reuters) - Shirley Temple Black, who lifted America's spirits as a bright-eyed, dimpled child movie star during the Great Depression and forged a second career as a U.S.

diplomat, died late on Monday evening at the age of 85. Black, who lured millions to the movies in the 1930s, "peacefully passed away" at her Woodside, California, home from natural causes at 10:57 p.m. local time, surrounded by her family and caregivers, her family said in a statement on Tuesday. "We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife of fifty-five years," the statement said. As actress Shirley Temple, she was precocious, bouncy and adorable with a head of curly hair, tap-dancing through songs like "On The Good Ship Lollipop." As Ambassador Shirley Temple Black, she was soft-spoken and earnest in postings in Czechoslovakia and Ghana, out to disprove concerns that her previous career made her a diplomatic lightweight. "I have no trouble being taken seriously as a woman and a diplomat here," Black said after her appointment as U.S. ambassador to Ghana in 1974.

"My only problems have been with Americans who, in the beginning, refused to believe I had grown up since my movies." Tributes to Black streamed in on Tuesday following the news of her death. Former President George H.W. Bush, who appointed Black as ambassador to the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, said she excelled as both a child star and a diplomat. "She captured the affections of millions around the world by her endearing performances on the silver screen as a young girl, but I also admired Shirley for her selfless service to our country later in her life," he said in a statement. The Czech government praised Black, saying she became one of the symbols of the country's newly won freedom when she served as the U.S. ambassador in Prague from 1989 until 1992. "With her charm and openness, she greatly contributed to the renovation of an old friendship of our countries and nations," the Czech Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The entertainment world also mourned her death and turned to Twitter to express its sadness. "Little Shirley Temple raised the spirits of a nation during the Great Depression. RIP," actress Mia Farrow tweeted.

Whoopi Goldberg referred to Black's signature song in her tribute to the former child star on Twitter. "The Good Ship Lollypop has sailed today with Shirley Temple aboard a true 1 of a kind," she wrote. Actress Kristin Chenoweth praised Black as a "legendary child star and wonderful diplomat." Black, born on April 23, 1928, started her entertainment career in the early 1930s and was famous by age 6. She became a national institution, and her raging popularity spawned look-alike dolls, dresses and dozens of other Shirley Temple novelties as she became one of the first stars to enjoy the fruits of the growing marketing mentality. Shirley was 3 when her mother put her in dance school, where a talent scout spotted her and got her in "Baby Burlesk," a series of short movies with child actors spoofing adult movies. Movie studio executives took notice. In 1934 she appeared in the film "Stand Up and Cheer!", and her song and dance number in "Baby Take a Bow" stole the show.

Other movies in that year included "Little Miss Marker" and "Bright Eyes" - which featured "On the Good Ship Lollipop" - and in 1935 she received a special Oscar for her "outstanding contribution to screen entertainment." She made some 40 feature films, including "The Little Colonel," "Poor Little Rich Girl," "Heidi" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," in 10 years, starring with big-name actors like Randolph Scott, Lionel Barrymore and Jimmy Durante. She was a superstar before the term was invented. Black said she was about 8 when adoring crowds shouting their love for her made her realize she was famous. "I wondered why," she recalled. "I asked my mother, and she said, 'Because your films make them happy.'" She was such a moneymaker that her mother - who would always tell her "Sparkle, Shirley!" before she appeared before an audience - and studio officials shaved a year off her age to maintain her child image. Her child career came to an end at age 12.

She tried a few roles as a teenager - including opposite future President Ronald Reagan in "That Hagen Girl" - but retired from the screen in 1949 at age 21. Read More The Screen Actors Guild gave her its 2005 Life Achievement Award. In her acceptance speech posted on the group's website, she said: "I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award: Start early!" In 1998, she was a Kennedy Center honoree, one of a select few to receive the annual award. POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY Temple was only 17 in 1945 when she married for the first time to John Agar, who would eventually appear with her in two movies. Their five-year marriage produced a daughter. In 1950, she wed Charles Black. Their marriage lasted until his death in 2005, and they had two children. Black's interest in politics was sparked in the early '50s when her husband was called back into the Navy to work in Washington.

She did volunteer work for the Republican Party while trying to make a comeback with two short-lived TV series, "Shirley Temple's Storybook" in 1959 and "The Shirley Temple Theater" a year later. Seven years after that, she ran unsuccessfully for Congress in California but stayed in politics, helping raise more than $2 million for President Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. She was later named to the United States' delegation to the United Nations - and found that her childhood popularity was an asset in her new career. "Having been a film star can be very helpful on an international basis," Black once said. "Many people consider me an old friend." Sometimes the public found it hard to accept her in diplomatic roles. But in 1989 she pointed out her 20 years in public service were more than the 19 she spent in Hollywood. In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed Black ambassador to Ghana. Two years later, he made her chief of protocol. For the next decade she trained newly appointment ambassadors at the request of the State Department. In 1989, President George H.W.

Bush made Black ambassador to Prague - a sensitive Eastern European post normally reserved for career diplomats. Black had been in Prague in 1968, representing a group fighting multiple sclerosis at a conference, when Soviet-bloc tanks entered to crush an era of liberalization known as the "Prague Spring." President Gustav Husak did not seem daunted by the prospect of a U.S. ambassador who had witnessed the invasion. He told her that he had been a fan of "Shirleyka." In 1972, Black was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. She publicly discussed her surgery to educate women about the disease. Black is survived by her children, Susan, Charlie Jr., and Lori; her granddaughter Teresa; and her great-granddaughters Lily and Emma, the family statement said. It said private funeral arrangements were pending. (Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Bill Trott, Sonya Hepinstall and Jonathan Oatis) Reblog Joshua Keating Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs.

Black said she got her start as a diplomat after an unsuccessful run for Congress in 1967 after Henry Kissinger heard her discussing Namibia at a party and was "surprised that I even knew the word." Richard Nixon appointed her to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in 1969, where she focused on refugees and environmental issues. According to the New York Times , “When she was appointed ambassador to Ghana in 1974, some career diplomats were outraged, but State Department officials later conceded that her performance was outstanding.” Advertisement “I have no trouble being taken seriously as a woman and a diplomat here," Black said after arriving in Ghana. "My only problems have been with Americans who, in the beginning, refused to believe I had grown up since my movies." After a stint as the White House chief of protocol for Gerald Ford and running a training program for ambassadors, George H.W. Bush appointed her as ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989.

As the Times wrote at the time, “If Prague were Rome or Paris, it would be easy to see George Bush's decision to ask her to be Ambassador to Czechoslovakia as simply a political reward for long, loyal service to the conservative Republican cause.” But Prague in 1989, with signs already in place that the communist system was collapsing and the Velvet Revolution just weeks away, wasn’t exactly a vacation posting. Black seemed to have an unlikely ability to be present for key moments in Czech history. She had been in the country in 1968 for a multiple sclerosis conference as Soviet tanks rolled in to crush the Prague Spring. She was ambassador throughout the fall of the communist government, and ended her tenure just as the country was splitting into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992. By all accounts, she acquitted herself well in the role, charming final Communist leader Gustáv Husák, who had been a fan of “Shirleyka’s" old films, but also maintained contacts with leading dissidents including Václav Havel, whom she accompanied on his first trip to the United States in 1990.

(According to journalist Jack Anderson , she insisted that the license plate on her car feature her initials, just to annoy the Czech government. “STB” was the acronym for the Czech secret police.) Advertisement According to Black, after the revolution, her work shifted more to economic matters, though she did speak out against proposed laws barring ex-communists from government positions, comparing them to the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s. Black may not have done anything exceedingly memorable or heroic during her tenure, but by all accounts she represented U.S. interests effectively during an extremely sensitive geopolitical moment, despite being a party loyalist and former movie star rather than an area expert or career foreign service officer. The current backlash against political appointees and fundraisers is understandable—prospective ambassadors should at the very least know the parties in power of the countries where they’re headed in order to avoid public humiliation—but Black’s experience is a reminder that most of the time, even in the tensest moments, political acumen and social skills are more important. P.S.

It doesn't really fit into this post, but one of my favorite stories of Black's tenure in Czechoslovakia is the time in 1990 that she just happened to be at the Prague airport at the same time that Frank Zappa—Havel's favorite rock star and an icon of freedom for the Czech opposition—was arriving for his first visit to the country, met by a crowd of adoring fans. A TV crew there to meet Zappa stopped to ask the ambassador for her opinion on the arriving dignitary. Advertisement Communist terrorists' plot to abduct Shirley Temple revealed | Daily Mail Online Next EXCLUSIVE: The communist plot to abduct Shirley Temple - and how Kissinger was warned child star-turned-diplomat was target for Japanese fanatics Daily Mail Online has obtained previously classified documents which show how the State Department was warned about plot Child star Shirley Temple became U.S.

ambassador to Ghana in 1974 Late in 1974, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was warned of intelligence that Japanese Red Army planned to abduct her Group was responsible for series of terror atrocities, including hijacking an airliner and eventually allied itself with Maoists Led by a woman who is still in prison in Japan, it made common cause with Palestinians

Question: Shirley Temple Black became US Ambassador to which African Country in 1974?
Answer: GHANA